I will be in Amsterdam for 3 nights in early July and I was wondering if anyone who has been there could throw a little advice my way. I've done a lot of research on the coffeeshops -- I have a list of 9-10 that are off the tourist beat, and have received good ratings online (and are close to my hotel -- Season Star near the train station).

If I want a real pre-rolled joint (no tobacco mixed in), I need to ask for a PURE joint, right? I know most of the coffeeshops have bongs you can use, but I want a few spliffs since all I smoke in the States are bongs and bowls with friends (with some blunts mixed in when we hang out with our black friends). Man is that going to be cool ordering a few "kindly rolled" J's.

Also, what's the deal with the "over the counter" esctasy you can buy in smart shops? I've heard the good stuff is almost as good as real E, but that can't be accurate. Can anyone shed some light on this?

And I know I am going to be tempted to bring just a little herb back with me, maybe accidently leave a little in the bottom of my backpack... but I am NOT going to risk the dogs at the airport. Last I heard they did have dogs. Someone told me that was just a rumor to scare people from trying to bring stuff with them from Amsterdam, but I believe that rumor! I would love to bring back a couple J's and a few buds of the kindest kind, but it's not worth it. Even though we never get the good stuff down here.

And yes, I'm doing more than coffeeshops while there. Van Gogh museum, Anne Frank House, Red Light District!!! I'm not going to any of the coffeeshops in the RLD, but I might have to go down there for something else. Pun intended!

Thanks! I read through all those links. (And even replied to one that I thought was current -- but was actually from 2005. Ha!) A lot of interesting stuff there.

About the only thing I didn't see was some advice on buying pre-rolled joints. I don't want to roll my own (I can get the job done, but not very well) but want to buy a bunch of pure kind joints. I think most places don't offer this -- most just have a menu of a bunch of different buds, and a few pre rolled (most of which are mixed with tobacco -- which i definitely do not want).

It's general advice not to roll pre-rolled joints. Besides usually being mixed with tobacco, they're not rolled fresh, so you don't know what you're getting. They're sort of the barbgain bin at most coffeeshops.

Don't worry about not being able to roll. Buy a gram of whatever you want to try, sit down in the coffeeshop with your papers, and whip it out and attempt to roll. A friendly neighbor will see your struggle with the tricky Rizla and help you out. Or if you ask the guy at the counter, they'll probably do it for you.

I don't get why Americans turn their noses up at our tobaco spliffs. It makes a much better quality spliff, that burns properly. Buy yourself a rolling machine if you can't roll they've some really good ones in the shops.

Some people just hate tobacco, I guess... or feel cheated if the weed is mixed. Personally, I think it makes it much smoother and easier to smoke. If anything, it disperses the weed a bit so you can simply puff at the spliff casually, instead of toking like a fiend. You can always tell the Americans at an Amsterdam coffeeshop - they're the ones being laughed at for holding in each drag for 30 seconds like there isn't enough of the stuff to go around.

when u buy the pre rolled joints u have the options of getting it mixed with weed or just all weed. they just call it either a joint or a doobie to distinguish if its mixed or not. there are places too where u can get pre rolled hash. my general advice is not to get pre rolled even though they are nice and convienient. most places the guy/girl behind the counter will help u out rolling it and if they dont, then you probably dont want to be there anyway.

as far as bringing it home, i'd advice against that. last trip on the way home there were dogs sniffing everyones bags in NYC before we left the international baggage pick up. and those dogs are no joke, if u had an apple in there from like two days ago they know and they'll search your bag.

i would definately advice against carrying drugs across international borders. it can only turn out bad.

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hi there
i aagree with the info on the rolling thing, especially the bit about looking like you need assistance, all my amsterdamage mates can roll without looking and sometimes one handed so you will find plenty of willing helpers whereever you end up. as for carrying 'items' across european borders i know for those travelling by train they now have random sniffer dogs and searches at destinations from Amsterdam. i have been stopped and bag searched arriving in paris just because i was coming from amsterdam. there was nothing to find but it was interesting to see the look on the gendarmes face when he inspected the contents of my jar of marmite (brown goopy stuff brits and NZer's put on bread and eat). he was not impressed. My advice is don't risk it, security is tighter in Europe generally and especially during summer and especially with anayone arriving from Amsterdam.